Magnetic hooking game



Feb s, 193s. H, M LA G 2,107,672

' MAGNETIC HOOKING GAME Filed June 13, 1936 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 INVENTOR W ATTORNEY.

H. M. LANG MAGNETIC HOOKING GAME 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed Jun 13, 1936 INVENTOR H4F0l0 MAWTl/V MING ATTORNEY Patented Feb. 8. I938 STATS PA'FEN'F orrice 2 Claims.

My invention relates to games involving skill in the coordination of hand and eyein capturing a movable object, and more particularly relates to games employing permanent magnets associated with objects which are to be caught by a magnet in the form of a hook and in which the magnetic properties are utilized to increase the difliculty of hooking the objects.

In one modification of my present invention, a slender permanent magnet is secured within a small form of an animal such as a monkey. A. brass ring is attached to the top end of the magnet for engagement with a hook. The bottom end of the magnet projects from the animal and is inserted in a hemi-spherical metallic base. The monkey is normally in a vertical position but the hemi-spherical base provides a support of unstable equilibrium for the animal form. The magnetic hook is of the same polarity as the top portion of the magnet within the monkey. In attempting to "hook the monkey by its protruding brass ring, the like polarity will produce repulsion causing the monkey to rock on its unstable base as'the magnet is brought near its head or ring. Skill is required in hooking the animal. When caught, the figure plus the magnet is slipped out of its unstable rocking base. Great care is necessary to avoid flooring or upsetting the monkey from its upright position.

In another modification. of my invention, the animal form is centrally pivoted upon a support ing rod in a manner permitting a rotary as well as rocking movement to the animal form. A magnet is placed within the animal form' and a brass ring protrudes from one end of the magnet and the form. An attempt to hook the animal by its brass ring causes the animal to gyrate upon its pivotal support by the repellent polarized hook so as to make its capture extremely dimcult, to the amusement of spectators and perhaps the consternation of the player.

In a further modification of my present invention, I contemplate placing a number of fish forms, having longitudinal slender magnets within them, in a tank of water. A brass hook or ring protrudes from the mouth of each fish and is secured to one end of the magnet within the fish. Counterweights are used at the tail end of the fiLh in order that their mouths and brass rings thereat project from the surface of the water. The polarity of the magnet at the mouth end of each fish is made identical, so that a mutual repellent action is encountered by the fish. A magnetic hook of the same polarity as the mouth ends of the fish is used in playing the controlled by the player of the game.

(Cl. 273M) 7 game. An attempt to hook one fish causes it to rapidly flee from the hook, in a lifelike manner and also change the magnetic equilibrium of the remaining fish which in turn move and re-adjust themselves until they are again disturbed by the hook during the playing of the game.

In order to more clearly set forth my present invention, the following description of particular embodiments thereof is made in connection with the drawings in which: 10

Figure 1 is an elevation of one modification of my invention showing a monkey form 'upona helm-spherical base for coaction with a magnetic hook.

Figure 2 is a cross sectional view taken through 1 2-2 of Figure 1 illustrating the magnet and base construction for the monkey form.

Figure 3 is an elevation of the modification of Figure 1 wherein the monkey is hooked from its hemi-spherical base.

Figure 4 is another modification of my invention illustrating a fish pivoted upon a rod.

Figures 5 and 6 illustrate a further modification of my invention employing a plurality of fish within tank of water. 25

Figure 7 is a cross-sectional view taken along 7-4 of Figure 5 through a fish form.

Referring to Figure 1, the animal form iii illustrated as a monkey is mounted upon a metallic helm-spherical base II by means of the slender magnet I2. The monkey form may be of celluloid, brass, molded composition, wood or other suitable non-magnetic material. A prefer able non-magnetic ring or loop of wire it, such as brass, is attached to the top end it of magnet it; The bottom end iii of magnet i2 is either tapered or made somewhat narrower than the width of magnet It to coact with or rest within a cavity in the central portion l6 of the hemispherical base H. ferred construction of the base H, magnet i2 and loop it. It is to be understood that the animal form it is secured to the magnet l2 and envelopes it in any manner familiar to those skilled in the art.

A hook 28 attached to a string 2| is manually The object of the game is to engage thehook end 22 with the loop i t on the monkey to unseat or otherwise remove the monkey ill from its base H as illus- 5o trated in Figure 3. Hook 20 is made of a permanent'magnet, the curved portion 22 of which is of the same polarity as the top portion M of the magnet 52. As illustrated in Figures 1 and 3, the polarity of magnet end I! is north (N) cor- 5 Figure 2 illustrates a pre- 0 g 65 now. beevident. The fish 25 being pivoted on the with the weight of the monkey form I and its magnet I2, so that the repellent force between the magnet ends I4 and 22 will be suificient to rock the monkey from its vertical position. instead of the monkey I0 repelling the hook 20.

If the hook 20 is brought near the loop |3 slowly, the monkey ID will be tipped from the vertical as illustrated in Figure 1. If the hook 20 is made to follow loop IS, the monkey III will be further tipped. If the monkey I0 is tipped beyond a predetermined angle, for example 80 from vertical,

lt-"will be floored" in that it will not. return to the vertical position unless reset. One of the rules of the game may be thatwhen the player fioors" the monkey, he is disqualified and the next player takes his turn.

The skill in hooking the animal form III by its projecting loop l3 resides in taking advantage of the inertia of-the form I. By rapidly approaching the loop I3, the inertia of the unstably,

poised monkey will permit its being caught ii: the rapid approach of hook is accurately performed so that the curved end 22 of the hook 20 properly engages with the loop l3. When. the hook 20 engages with loop l3 as iliustratedin Figure 3, the repellent action of the similarly poled adjacent magnet ends l4 and 22 will not prevent the monkey ID from being lifted from its base II when caught. The monkey form Ill illustrated in Figures 1 and 3 has its hand poised in front of its nose I! in a gesture of derision to urge on the players who may easily become: ex-- In Figure 4, another modification of my invention is shown wherein a fish form 25 is pivotally supported on rod 25 secured to base 21. Although ,1 illustrate form 25as a. fish, it will be evident.

that other forms may equally well be used, such as a bird. Magnet is enclosed'centrally within' the fish form .25 and a brass ring 28 is attached to the front end of the fish 30. The brass ring 28 projects from the mouth 3| of the fish 25. The polarity of the front end of the magnet is made north to correspond to the same polarityof the hook end 22. v

A conical cavity-32 is provided within the form 25. The tip of conical cavity 32 is supported by the rounded top end 34 of pivoted rod- 25. The form 25 is designed to be normally balanced in a horizontal position as shown inFigure 4. A metallic bar "is used in the rear end of form 25 asa counter-weight to balance the mass of the forward portion thereof.

An attempt to hook fish 25 at ring 25 with hook 20 will cause the front portion 2| of the fish 25-to be repelled by the magnet 20 as will tip 34 of-"rod-;25 movable circularly and also away from'the horizontal. The dotted position of Figure 4 illustrates how the fish 2 5 rocks from the horizontal about its pivotal support. The repulsion of fish 25 isa gyrationthereof as a combination of a'rocking and circular move-- ment away from the magnetic hook 20.

Angling for the fish 25 by magnetic hook 20 requires a skill developed by constant p actice;

' from the The fish 25 in the modification of Figure 4 readily reacts from the proximity of the hook 2B. When the curved portion 22 of hook 20 engages the metal ring 28 the fish 25 is caught and is readily lifted from its pivotal supporting rod 25.

Figure 5 is a further modification of the magnetic repellent hooking" 'gameof my present in-' vention. A plurality of fish forms 40 are immersed in a tank 4| containing water 42.. The fish 40 have a slender magnetic rod 43 embedded therein. A brass ring 44 is attached to the front end of magnet 43 and projects through the front or mouth portion 45 of fish form 40.

Figure? is a cross-sectional view taken alon of Figure 6'through a fish 40 illustrating a.

preferredinternal structure thereof. The north '(N) end 45 of magnet rod 43 is secured to the forward end 45 of the fish 45 by the metal ring 44 projecting through the mouth of the fish. The opposite end 41 of magnet 43 is preferably tapered or nicked to fit into a suitable groove 45 in the body of the fish 40.

The fish 40 are designed to float partly-sub 'mally project through the surface of the liquid 42 in proper relation for playing of the game.

The internal magnets 43 of the fish 45 are ac cordingly held in substantially parallel relation. The polarities of the magnets are all arranged similarly. in that for example the ends 45 adiacent the mouths 45 of the fish are of north (N) polarity and the opposite ends 41 are of south (8) polarity. The fish willtherefore normally repel each other and arrange themselves .in a

spaced equilibrium relation about thesurface of the'water 42 in the tank 4|.

' The magnetized hook 20 is manually operated by the player to catch afish 45 in the tank at its protruding brass ring 44. Theloop 22-of the hook 23 is made of the same polarity as the forwardends 45 of the magnets 43 within the fish 45; By bringing the magnetizedhook 23 in the vicinity of any one fish, the magnetic repelling action. of the like polarities will cause the fish to dart away. The lifelike action of the fish "swim-. ining" away from. the fishhook .23 disturbs the magnetic equilibrium of the darting fish with respect to the other fish in. the tank. A general movement of the fish accordingly occurs away from the region of the hook. adding to the'mer- 1 riment (or discomfiture) of the players.

axial magnetic field will be of the same polarity as the direction of the magnetic field emanating individual bar magnets 43 within the fish 43. I

A weak current flowing through the solenoid polarlty of the solenoid 5| is made so that 1a 5| will provide a magnetic field which is quite strong near the adjacent surface of the water 42 and is negligible at even a small distance away from the sides of the tank 4|. The material of the tank'4l is non-magnetic such as brass, glass, composition orthe like to permit the penetration of the magnetic'fiel'd from the solenoid 5|. It will be evident that the solenoid 5| may be attached to the internal sides of the tank 4| instead of to the exterior portion as illustrated. The provision of the magnetic field by solenoid 5| overcomes any tendency of the fish 40 to float against or remain at the side of the tank 4|, and does not interfere with the normal action of the fish during the progress of the game.

Amodification of the surface tension repelling means is'illustrated in Figure 6. A plurality of bar magnets 55 is attached to the sides of the tank 4| at the level of the water 42. The plurality of the magnets 55 are arranged similar to that-0f the magnets 43 within the fish 40. The fish 40 will accordingly be repelled away from the sides of the tank to prevent getting stuck" thereat. The bar magnets 55 may be attached to the interior side of the tank instead of the exterior position as shown in Figure 6.

Although I have illustrated some of the physical embodiments which my invention may asgame'the added zest of dredging or salvaging sunken treasures. Thus I do not wish to be limited by my illustration except as set forth in the following claims.

I claim:

1. In a game of the character described, a body in the form of a figure; a bar magnet secured within said body; means for supporting said body mounted for universal rocking movement in stable'equilibrium comprising a hemispherical base detachable from said body; a loop attached to the end of said magnet and protruding from said body; and a magnetic hook having the curved end portion of the same polarity as the end of said magnet attached to said loop, manually controlled for engagement with said loop, whereby the proximity of said hook with said loop acts to unbalance the equilibrium position of said body.

,2. In -a game of the character described, a body in the form of a figure; a bar magnet secured within said body; means for supporting said body mounted for universal rocking move- 'ment in stable equilibrium comprising-a base detachable from said body; a loop attached to the end of said magnet and protruding from said body; and a magnetic hook having the curved end portion of the same polarity as the end of said magnet attached to said loop, manually controlled for engagement with said loop, whereby the proximity of said hook with said loop acts to unbalance the equilibrium position of said body.

HAROLD M. LANG. 

